School board will take up ACPS Education Foundation in private

After publicly grilling Superintendent Morton Sherman for details earlier this month, school board members will go behind closed doors to discuss an educational foundation with ties to the district.

School board chairwoman Karen Graf announced the decision during a public meeting January 24. While Sherman made good on his promise to present the board with information about the independent nonprofit — known as the Alexandria City Public Schools Education Foundation — the documents were delivered just hours before the meeting, Graf said.

With little time to review the information, the board decided to bring in legal counsel and go through the documents at a later date, she said.

“What we found out is that some of the content we were looking at required legal or business advice that we didn’t have the experience to analyze on our own,” Graf said. “We essentially just want to make sure we’re doing the right thing for all the people involved.”

Board members first raised concerns about the nonprofit earlier this month. Though formed in November 2011, the school board worries the foundation — which is an entity independent of ACPS — used district dollars and personnel. Tapping into district resources would require board oversight.

Board member Patricia Hennig specifically targeted the foundation’s use of the ACPS name and address on its founding documents filed with the state during a January 10 meeting.

“If you’re going to use the school district’s name, you better have board permission,” she told Sherman then.

Hennig declined to comment for this article.

But the documents Sherman released indicate the foundation received board approval for its use of the district’s name and resources. And while the creation of the foundation was never put to a vote, the documents state Sherman and foundation co-founder Madye Henson — who also is deputy superintendent — chose to move forward with the organization based on the “discussion and sense of the school board at their [September 2011] retreat.”

Documents from the two-day retreat include the foundation’s bylaws and mission statement, but neither meeting minutes nor an action docket are publicly available. While most meetings are filmed and later posted to the district’s website, there is no video of the discussion to create the foundation.

Board members also received all documents pertaining to the foundation’s expenses and revenues. So far, they have been unable to determine if the nonprofit has drawn on ACPS dollars.

While the school board expects to meet with its legal counsel in private sessions, Graf pledged to report their findings to the public.

“We won’t leave anybody in the dark,” she said.

Members also voted to seek advice to ensure paperwork was filed correctly with the state and to define the steps needed to legally create a foundation.

“We don’t know if there is a problem and can’t say it is, but there are some indicators that have led us to seek counsel for advice,” Graf said. “It’s not that we’re evading the answer, we just don’t know.”

Sherman, Henson and former school board chairwoman Sheryl Gorsuch formed the foundation with the aim of raising money from the community to pay for special projects for teachers and students.

“In practice, we support the idea of a foundation, but it’s our responsibility as school board members to make sure it was set up properly,” Graf said. “This board is supportive and appreciative of the community members who were recruited to help ACPS achieve their goals and I thank them personally for their interest, and we are working to find a way to go forward with the foundation.”

4 COMMENTS

This seems just to be a witch hunt against the superintendent and former board member. I applaud Dr Sherman for seeking ways for public-private partnerships. Many surrounding school systems have endowments under similar arrangements. The ACPS board should thank him for looking to raise funds to support teachers and students. Public and private universities do that always and we in Alexandria should be doing the same. It appears that some egos were bruised and a few board members want to show who is boss. So amateurish and childish. My taxes support the schools and I depend on educational leaders to lead not people who by their own admission have no clue what their doing. Hiding in close session is an admission of being incompetent and hiding from the public who elected you. I hope the Times gets the legal bills for this sham.

How transparent! When I was still working in Central Office, among the many edicts was to write letters to the editor in support of/defending Mort Sherman. We were also ordered never to speak of GwenCarol Holmes affiliation with Success for All as its adoption was being considered.

The citizens of our city should have confidence that their tax dollars and/or private donations are going towards well organized institutions. The lack of specific purpose for this foundation, the lack of public discussion to partner it to our school system, the untimeliness in delivering legally required documents to private citizens and a public board, and the lack of complete and signed documentation does not instill confidence. The board is correct to pursue this matter.

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